news
The upcoming adaptation of Candice Carty-Williams’ bestselling book is a must-watch
When Candice Carty-Williams’ debut novel Queenie was released in 2019, it made quite the impression – much like the titular character herself. Hailed as a “funny, clever, heart-breaking lightning bolt” of afirst book, it became aSunday Times Bestseller and was awarded Book Of The Year at the British Book Awards.
Despite the character of Queenie –a 25-year-old Jamaican-British woman struggling her way through adevastating break-up without the support of her parents –being billed as a “Black Bridget Jones” at first, it soon became apparent there was so much more to the character than that.
OK, so maybe not everyone has had sex in the office toilet with acolleague or accidentally dated their best friend’s boyfriend at the same time as them, but we all have funny or embarrassing dating stories. Queenie is an extreme embodiment of all our bad decisions in our mid-twenties, be they dating, work or family-related, and we love her for it.
That’s why it’s especially exciting that Queenie has been adapted into an eightpart drama series for Channel 4, beginning next month.
FROM PAGE TO SCREEN
Starting as the novel does, with Queenie’s long-term boyfriend Tom (Jon Pointing) dramatically breaking up with her after an awkward dinner party with his family, the show follows its heroine (Dionne Brown) as she navigates single life and her job working for a fictional newspaper.
Unable to deal with her real, often devastating problems head-on, Queenie embraces online dating and big nights out, much to the chagrin of her family, and of her friends Kyazike (Bellah), Darcy (Tilly Keeper) and Cassandra (Elisha Applebaum), also known as The Corgis.
While the series follows avery similar plot to the novel, Candice –who serves as showrunner –has talked about the impact of having other voices joining the conversation as the award-winning book transitioned to the small screen. She said, “When you’re awriter of novels, you’re very solitary. And then when you start developing aTV show, you end up being around loads of people –and actually, in terms of story process, it is alot better. There are different voices in the room and different ideas, and I’m constantly being pushed to expand on ideas.
